You can immediately cancel out allusions (reference to well-known person, place, or event outside the story) and hyperbole (an exaggeration, not to be entirely believed) leaving simile and metaphor. Because the word "like" shows up twice at the beginning and end- the roof came down steep and black <em>like a cowl</em>, their thick-leaved, far-reaching branches shadowed it <em>like </em>a pall- we can assume the answer is simile. Hope this helps!
Similes use comparison to describe people, things, events, elements, and others while employing the words “like,” or “as.” The description of the setting uses this figurative language when it uses “like” to describe how the roof came down: “steep and black like a cowl” and to describe how the tree branches shadowed the roof: “like a pall.”
